This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The mission of the CCRD is to create, interpret, and apply new knowledge based on original, collaborative, multidisciplinary laboratory studies of the cellular and molecular pathways leading to gastrointestinal cancer. This broad area of research is represented by investigators pursuing research relevant to four major themes - Theme A - The significance of fetal proteins and phenotypes in Cancer;Theme B - Pathogenesis Of GI Tumors;Theme C - Signal Transduction Mechanisms Relevant to Carcinogenesis;Theme D - Role of RNA and DNA Viruses in Cancer. The center is advised by the External Advisory Committee (EAC), which includes 5 distinguished scientists: Daniel Flynn, PhD (Chair and Director of the COBRE Center for Signal Transduction and Cancer in West Virginia);Susan Fischer, PhD (MD Anderson Cancer Center);Nelson Fausto, MD (Univ. of Wash., Chair of Pathology);Harriet Isom, PhD (Penn State Cancer Inst./M.S. Hershey Med. Center Dist.Prof. Microbiolgy, Immunology and Pathology); and Alan Rosmarin, MD (Chief, Division of Hematology Oncology and Deputy Directof of University of Massachusetts Memorial Cancer Center). The EAC provided advisement to leadership of the COBRE CCRD, also known as the Internal Executive Committee (IEC). The IEC includes the Core Directors: Douglas Hixson PhD (Dir.Core A);Djuro Josic, PhD (Dir. Core B);Ronald DeLellis, MD (Dir. Core C), Murray Resnick, MD, PhD (Co-Dir. Core C);the Deputy Director, Jonathan Reichner, PhD; and the mentors: Philip Grupposo, MD;Peter Quesenberry, MD;and Jack Wands, MD. The COBRE CCRD website can be found at http://www.lifespan.org/rih/services/cobre. It lists NCRR funding for this Center.